2000 - 316/318 Dead

[BarryMichaelWalsh]

morning all

A friend of mine has an immaculate 2 door 2000(W) 316 with a 318 engine.its done around 120,000 miles

recently it started cutting out everytime she took her foot off the accelerator so off to the garage it went apparently to a bmw specialist

she was told it was an "air leak" so in the last month the car has had a 2nd hand manifold and all new hoses (dont ask me which) but i presume the ones concerned with the "air" circulation its also had new gaskets

its still running rough and the bmw specialist says he cant find what is wrong with it???????

now it will start but dies soon after the engine is otherwise fine and no smoke she has had it serviced regular and has looked after ot well in the 8 years she has had it

not knowing that much about cars i said it could be the main ecu but no lights are on just an error message that its an air leak

ANY IDEAS PEEPS?

[Guest DazH]

morning all

A friend of mine has an immaculate 2 door 2000(W) 316 with a 318 engine.its done around 120,000 miles

recently it started cutting out everytime she took her foot off the accelerator so off to the garage it went apparently to a bmw specialist

she was told it was an "air leak" so in the last month the car has had a 2nd hand manifold and all new hoses (dont ask me which) but i presume the ones concerned with the "air" circulation its also had new gaskets

its still running rough and the bmw specialist says he cant find what is wrong with it???????

now it will start but dies soon after the engine is otherwise fine and no smoke she has had it serviced regular and has looked after ot well in the 8 years she has had it

not knowing that much about cars i said it could be the main ecu but no lights are on just an error message that its an air leak

ANY IDEAS PEEPS?

Hello, and welcome to BMWOC

The most concerning this is this "BMW Specialist" can't find out what's wrong. There is only so many things it could be and by us suggesting things, should contradict what has already been looked at by the "specialist". Don't worry, its not Dead and it IS going to be something silly. It's just the diagnostics which is going to be the hard part.

The ECU should have been tested by the specialist but yes, it could indeed be the reason it's acting the goat. We can suggest things but it may require you getting your hands dirty....

Daz

[Snypa-D]

Welcome to BMWOC :)

[Charlee]

Welcome! Hope you manage to resolve this! :)

[bonner 330ci]

Just out of intrest is the engine code a n42?? if so and nobody can find the fault try a new ecu!! or second hand, my mate had roughly the same sort of problem with a 316 or 318? n42! big money was spent over a month trying to resolve the problem and turnd out that the ecu had gone !Removed! up they tried every thing bmw had advise them and even admitted the n42 was the worst engine bmw had ever designed

[bonner 330ci]

Just out of intrest is the engine code a n42?? if so and nobody can find the fault try a new ecu!! or second hand, my mate had roughly the same sort of problem with a 316 or 318? n42! big money was spent over a month trying to resolve the problem and turnd out that the ecu had gone !Removed! up they tried every thing bmw had advise them and even admitted the n42 was the worst engine bmw had ever designed

[Guest DazH]

Just out of intrest is the engine code a n42?? if so and nobody can find the fault try a new ecu!! or second hand, my mate had roughly the same sort of problem with a 316 or 318? n42! big money was spent over a month trying to resolve the problem and turnd out that the ecu had gone tits up they tried every thing bmw had advise them and even admitted the n42 was the worst engine bmw had ever designed

M43

ECU fault would be detected by a BMW specialist in a heartbeat.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Same old poo again... I love Beamers !!

Try the basics - Clean the MAF/TPS/Cam sensors... Then do a soft-reset by diconnecting the battery for an hour+...

One or more of the above may have failed, but, as Daz mentioned, codes would have popped-up if the speciallist was interested in solving it !!!

(Still thinking it could be excessive air intake)

Remove a spark-plug, if it seems "white" this suggests she's running too lean (Air-leak). Check for damage on all plugs !

HTH